Casino
United States, France
1995
178 Min
Color
French, English
Synopsis
The inner-workings of a corrupt Las Vegas casino are exposed in Martin Scorsese’s story of crime and punishment. The film chronicles the lives and times of three characters: “Ace” Rothstein (Robert De Niro), a bookmaking wizard; Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci), a Mafia underboss and longtime best friend to Ace; and Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone, in a role she was born to play), a leggy ex-prostitute with a fondness for jewelry and a penchant for playing the field. Ace plays by the rules (albeit Vegas rules, which, as he reminds the audience in voiceover, would make him a criminal in any other state), while Nicky and Ginger lie, cheat, and steal their respective ways to the top. The film’s first hour and a half details their rise to power, while the second half follows their downfall as the FBI, corrupt government officials, and angry mob bosses pick apart their Camelot piece by piece.
( From http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:135453 )
Director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese was born in New York City and soon developed a passion for cinema and a particular admiration for neo-realist cinema which inspired him and influenced his view or portrayal of his Sicilian heritage. After graduating from NYU Film School in 1966 and making a number of shorts, he shot his first feature-length film Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1968) with fellow student, actor Harvey Keitel, and editor Thelma Schoonmaker both of whom were to become long-term collaborators. Mean Streets followed in 1973 and provided the benchmarks for the ‘Scorsese style’. After Scorsese directed Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, the trio was reunited for the dark journey of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. After New York, New York Scorsese released Raging Bull. The acclaimed biography of middleweight fighter Jake LaMotta was followed by exploration of fans as pariah in The King of Comedy, dark-comic dreams in After Hours and pool sharks in The Color of Money. Scorsese outraged some religious… read more
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evan faulkner
17Dec09
The moment the film starts, you are bombarded with information, making it one of the fastest 3-hour movies ever made. An absolute tour-de-force of camerwork, editing, and acting. Goodfellas may get more attention, but Casino is much more intoxicating and epic...and as time goes by, more people are starting to realize that.
Marcus Hart
6Dec09
I loved how this film takes the style Scorsese used in Goodfellas, perfects it, and uses it to tell a much larger story here. Although not on the same level of excellence as its predecessor, I still think Casino is a great film.
gino
12Oct09
I like to think of Casino as Scorsese's Epic. It's pretty lengthy, but there wasn't a dull moment in the entire Film. Robert De Niro is the perfect mobster and the lesser Characters complement him brilliantly. The story is dramatically hilarious, and the irony of the entire situation is great.
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